THE HOMERIC PALACE. 199 



work suffered no hindrance, or disturbance from it. 



It has already been observed that the columns 

 were grooved or fluted to retain commodiously and 

 securely the spears affixed to them, and the middle 

 space lay between the two series of columns, like the 

 mainmast in the midst of a ship : in like manner, the 

 chimney was placed with the support of pilasters. 



From edifices of this sort, in such rude simplicity, 

 constructed for the use and accommodation of men in 

 a rustic, uncultivated state, the temples of the gods, 

 reared and adorned by their descendants with sump- 

 tuous magnificence and exquisite elegance, seem to 

 have derived their primary forms ; since they were 

 distributed into three compartments, in front, in the 

 middle, and in the rear ; as well as the abodes of the 

 more ancient princes. Of these sacred structures, the 

 middle or nave, which occupied the place of the hall, 

 was, in most of the greatest, open to the air ; as the 

 hall was covered only with the gallery : whilst in 

 both the two extremities were covered with a pentice, 

 according to the dictates of utility and the examples 

 of ancient fanes, as at Poestum, and in other Doric 

 remains. The dormitories and cells of the more 

 honorable women, were secured with greater care 

 and pains against the severity of the weather, than 

 were the seats of the men, only occupied in the day 

 time. The distribution of the columns also, both 

 within and around the walls, appears to have been 

 the same in both instances : the sacred enclosure 

 was fenced round in the same manner as the Homeric 

 hall. 



In the temples, the sloping roofs were covered 

 with tiles of marble or brick ; while in the royal 

 house of olden times both roofs and galleries were 

 only planked or boarded : and the various lodges, 

 placed outside, were thatched with reed or straw — 

 for, in their ignorance of art, neither lime for mortar 

 nor, burnt bricks were known : but it was always 

 easy and at hand to seam the edges of the boards 

 with a mixture of resin and sand ; and to fill and 

 stop up their chinks and interstices. 



